Kenawa Island – The Beauty of Sumbawa Barat

“Kenawa looks so cute. Not so big and it had one big hill. Do you think we can walk around the island for just 1 hour? Oh! are those like small bungalows? Sweet!” I am pointing to the small hut around the island and am fascinated with everything in front of me. I remember I was so excited while I was driven in a small boat with a glass bottom from Sumbawa Barat (Poto Tano) to Kenawa.

Kenawa island from far

The journey with the small boat only takes 15 minutes. Kenawa island is really close to Poto Tano port, the port of Sumbawa Barat. Kenawa island is a part of Gili Balu’ district in Poto Tano Village – Sumbawa Barat, Indonesia. Besides Kenawa Island, there are seven other islands close to Poto Tano. Those islands are: Kalong, Nano, Mandiki, Paserang, Kambing, Belang and Ular.

See all the gazebos!

After being dropped off, we had the island for the two of us. I couldn’t wait to explore the area, especially the place where we would be staying overnight. “It is going to be fun and adventurous!” I said that in my mind and put a wide grin on my face. There were three places that kind of looked like a small house and the rest of the buildings are like gazebos. I went to the one that was closest to where we were dropped off. “It looks ok,” I said that to myself. Well, it will not be so comfortable sleeping on a hard floor, but this is ok. I went inside the house, this is more like a gazebo, but with walls and small terrace. Umm.. “It is quite dirty… and there are a lot of ants!” I yelled out to my travel mate. Some stupid people left food inside the small house. Oh well.. I can check the other two houses. By the way, it is impossible to sleep in the Gazebo because it would be very windy!

Exploring around the island

Long story short, we finally stayed overnight in one of the gazebos, since all the small houses were broken and dirty. We picked the one that had quite a lot of bushes surrounding it, so at least it covered us from the wind at night. Later that evening, we got some companions. A bunch of people from Lombok Timur arrived two hours after us. They choose to stay overnight in the first house that I checked.

The group from Lombok Timur

I remember they were a group of funny people. They made me laugh (and panic) when they lit up a bonfire at night. They probably did not realize that the grass was so dry and would burn so easily. Luckily they managed to put it out quite quickly.

Sunrise in Kenawa island

On the next morning, I was so relieved that I survived the night. Haha.. It was not comfortable at all. Lucky for me there were also no mosquitos, because it was the dry season. Anyways, after enjoying the sunrise, I quickly grabbed my breakfast. I really couldn’t wait to chill on the beach and snorkel around the island. The visibility was quite ok and the underwater view around the island is amazing.

I love it! The view from Kenawa

Lesson learned: No need to stay over night in Kenawa island. Just go there for a day trip, I promise it is more than enough. Try to arrive in the morning, pack a lunch and have fun exploring the island. Take some crazy holiday snapshot, do some swimming and snorkelling around the island and that’s it. One more important thing, please bring back with you all the garbage that you came with. Don’t leave it in the island. Without you leaving your trash, this beautiful island already has a serious trash problem.

Do you know what is it?

Have you ever been to Kenawa island? Are there any small beautiful islands like this that you would like to share?

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I have visited this place, but only for like 2 hours, i didnt have really much time to look around, the beach was splendid, white sands, snorkeling here is pretty good, but i love Padar Island more. You should write about Padar Island.. ?